takes therefrom two
packets,--one heavily sealed,--which he hands to Hayne.

"In case I--don't come back, you know what to do with these,--as I told
you last night."

Hayne only looks imploringly at him: "You are not going to leave me
_here_, captain?"

"Yes, Hayne. You can't go with us. Hark! There they go at the right. Are
the packages all right?"

Hayne, with stunned faculties, thinking only of the charge he longs to
make,--not of the one he has to keep,--replies he knows not what. There
is a ringing bugle-call far off among the rocks to the westward; a
rousing cheer; a rattling volley. Rayner springs off to his men on the
hill-side. Hull spurs in front of his eager troop, holding high his
pistol-hand:

"Now, men, follow till I drop; and then keep ahead! Come on!"

There is a furious sputter of hoofs, a rush of excited steeds up the
gentle slope, a glad outburst of cheers as they sweep across the ridge
and out of sight, then the clamor and yell of frantic battle; and when
at last it dies away, the Riflers are panting over the hard-won position
and shaking hands with some few silent cavalrymen. They have carried the
ridge, captured the migrating village, squaws, ponies, travois, and
pappooses; their "long Toms" have sent many a stalwart warrior to the
mythical hunting-grounds, and the peppery colonel's triumph is complete.

But Lawrence Hayne, with all the light gone from his brave young face,
stands mutely looking down, upon the stiffening frame of his father's
old friend, and his, who lies shot through the heart.

I.

In the Pullman car of the westward-bound express, half-way across the
continent, two passengers were gazing listlessly out over the wintry
landscape. It was a bitter morning in February. North and south the
treeless prairie rolled away in successive ridge and depression. The
snow lay deep in the dry ravines and streaked the sea-like surface with
jagged lines of foam between which lay broad spaces clean-swept by the
gale. Heavy masses of cloud, dark and forbidding, draped the sky from
zenith to horizon, and the air was thick with spiteful gusts and spits
of snow, crackling against the window-panes, making fierce dashes every
time a car door was hurriedly opened, and driving about the platforms
like a myriad swarm of fleecy and aggressive gnats raging for battle.
Every now and then, responsive to some wilder blast, a blinding white
cloud came whirling from the depths of the nearest gul